Of all the novels in Stephen King’s massive bibliography, only a handful seem like they’d make for bad adaptations — whether too difficult (like Gerald’s Game) or too ambitious (like Lisey’s Story), or if the story is simply too underwhelming. The latter is the case with Doctor Sleep, the sequel to horror classic The Shining. Like most late-coming sequels, King’s follow-up to his iconic tale of familial terror pales in comparison to its predecessor. But if anyone can turn it into a decent movie, it’s the director of last year’s surprisingly (mostly) great Gerald’s Game.

It looks as though Mike Flanagan has followed through on the promise he made back in December, as THRreports that he’s officially signed on to direct Doctor Sleep for Warner Bros. — the studio behind last year’s other surprisingly great King adaptation, IT.

Flanagan, whose credits also include Oculus and Ouija: Origin of Evil (another surprisingly good horror movie!), will adapt King’s 2013 sequel to his classic 1977 novel The Shining. The follow-up centers on Danny Torrance a few decades after his traumatic stay at the Overlook Hotel, where his father — a struggling writer and alcoholic — terrorized the young boy and his mother, Wendy. Now older and struggling with his own alcohol abuse and inner demons, Danny’s “shining” brings him into the orbit of a young girl who is manifesting telepathic abilities of her own.

Together, the two are pursued by a group of zealous quasi-immortal psychic vampires who feed on the powers of people like Danny.

The book itself is…not great. But it has some interesting ideas and characters, and given Flanagan’s exceptional work with Gerald’s Game (perhaps the trickiest King novel to adapt), he might just be able to turn Doctor Sleep into a damn fine horror movie.